daytime running lights

[skidkid]

Can anyone tell me what lights are on if you turn this function on? Is it halo's or head lights?

[dubsesd]

Usa= inner halo
Canada = hid and outer egg yolk

[Huz-Z]

personally I prefer the USA version because it allows you to run with the fogs and all other lights on - except the headlights.

That way you don't get the headlights reflecting back at you in the fog, yet the fog lights are on and your car is lit up all around so it can be seen by others.

[pungo]

What dubsesd said, unfortunately the halos are too dim to make any difference as DRLs since they don't stand out during the daylight. I think I can add dual halos without needing to cut the headlights open. I'll put up a post if I can get this done.

[DaveZ]

FYI, I have a pair of these on order from E92-Lighting: https://www.e92-lighting.com/bmw-acc...arking-lights/. No guarantees they will be error-free for the Z4 DRLs, but they're the only ones I could find that seem they might work and that had enough emitters to make me think they may be as bright or brighter than the dinky 10w halogen bulbs.



Should know this week how they work out.

[Clearancediver]

Just checked mine... It's a Cdn car and I just have inner light (halo?) as DLR. However I've switched mine off-on numerous times with NavCoder when checking car for faults or just plain playing with INPA.

[Huz-Z]

The fogs on my SI are bright enough to function as DRLs. I still think that BMW should have found a way to have fogs on the Z4M.

[Huz-Z]

Originally Posted by DaveZ

FYI, I have a pair of these on order from E92-Lighting: https://www.e92-lighting.com/bmw-acc...arking-lights/. No guarantees they will be error-free for the Z4 DRLs, but they're the only ones I could find that seem they might work and that had enough emitters to make me think they may be as bright or brighter than the dinky 10w halogen bulbs.



Should know this week how they work out.

Interesting!

Are any modification needed to get these working?

[chickdr]

I bet they will throw a bulb out warning but you could use software to get around it. Neat looking bulbs that won't get hot.

[pungo]

Originally Posted by DaveZ

FYI, I have a pair of these on order from E92-Lighting:

Those should be brighter than the stock Halogen, but I still don't think they'll be bright enough to use as true DRLs. Those look like they are using 5630 LEDs. I tried some that had 10 5630 LED and they were a little brighter than the stock Halogen, but not by much. The ones you linked looks like they have 22 LEDs, but the 6 on the front won't do much since there's a black solid disk in front of them. Plus they probably aren't driving them very hard since there's not any aluminum heat sink material. Also there's a blue translucent disk between the AE ring and the bulb/reflector. Most of the light has to use the reflector to make it to the AE ring. I know because I dissected a damaged headlight from a wrecked car. I'll post some pics of all the parts that make up the AE light assembly. I think the only way to get a true usable DRL AE is to use a LED ring, which I plan to experiment with.

Here's my LED (on left in picture) vs stock halogen.

[DaveZ]

Just to followup, turns out that E92-lighting had no availability on the bulbs and eventually had to get my money refunded. After lots more searching domestically in vain, I ended up ordering these from China off ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-X-BA9S-LED.../200972175548? Claimed output is 500-600 lumens, have no idea if that is accurate but they are indeed bright.



My writeup which includes some comparison photos is here: http://www.zeleznik-klein.com/z4/fixit/drl/index.html. I'm pretty happy with the result, factory halogen on left, LED on the right.

[pungo]

Looks good. BTW, I doubt those are even 100 lumens.

I think the brightest BA9s LED might be these:




Or the more involved and $ LED rings I'm experimenting with as a service:

[DaveZ]

Thanks for that link pungo, very interesting. If they weren't so expensive I'd buy a pair just to try them out. I will definitely browse his store and see what else he has that looks interesting. My fear of ordering from China has been eased now

FYI, that I also bought and tried these 9x5050 bulbs: http://www.ebay.com/itm/190719769189.



They were not error free on the Z4 and they were definitely dimmer than the ones that I ended up installing. Whereas these were barely visible in daylight, the ones claiming 500lm that I installed were clearly visible in noon sun and a little brighter to my eyes than stock halogen.

Edit: I see now that the guy is selling 2 bulbs for $32, I initially thought it was the price for 1. Makes it a little more palatable to give it a try, need to look some more before deciding.

[chickdr]

Are the 5-600 lumen LED's you demonstrated above error free? That is my biggest issue. I would go for LED's if they did not throw an error code on the dash.

[DaveZ]

Originally Posted by chickdr

Are the 5-600 lumen LED's you demonstrated above error free? That is my biggest issue. I would go for LED's if they did not throw an error code on the dash.

No, not error-free. I have been unable to find anything suitable that is truly error-free. Even the ones from overseas that claim to be error-free I have found that they aren't. The only LEDs that I have bought for the Z4 that are truly error-free is the interior lighting package from ECSTuning and the license plate lighting from LeatherZ. IMO if it is not from a reputable stateside vendor that specifically tests on the Z4, I wouldn't trust whatever they claim.

[pungo]

Originally Posted by chickdr

Are the 5-600 lumen LED's you demonstrated above error free? That is my biggest issue. I would go for LED's if they did not throw an error code on the dash.

I would spend the extra money and try the ones I linked in my post above, which will be much brighter.

It's very easy with NCS Expert to tell the light control module to not check the AE so you don't get the error.

KALTUEBERWACHUNG_FL - COLD MONITORING OF HIGH BEAMS
nicht_aktiv - not enabled

WARMUEBERWACHUNG_FL - HOT MONITORING OF HIGH BEAMS
nicht_aktiv - not enabled

Originally Posted by DaveZ

The only LEDs that I have bought for the Z4 that are truly error-free is the interior lighting package from ECSTuning and the license plate lighting from LeatherZ. IMO if it is not from a reputable stateside vendor that specifically tests on the Z4, I wouldn't trust whatever they claim.

The light control module does not check the interior bulbs so the "truly error-free" statement is not relevant for those bulbs The License plate bulbs can be are monitored by the LSZ but default they are not monitored so error free bulbs are not required, at least on my car.

[DaveZ]

Originally Posted by pungo

The light control module does not check the interior bulbs so the "truly error-free" statement is not relevant for those bulbs The License plate bulbs can be are monitored by the LSZ but default they are not monitored so error free bulbs are not required, at least on my car.

Interesting, didn't realize this. Thought about it and figured I'm down this figurative road already, so wth. I placed an order for a pair of those Cree XBD bulbs. Comparing against several other vendors who look like they're selling the same bulb, it seems that they are only being driven 200-300 mA at 12V, so nowhere near the 50W claimed which according to the Cree specs is just the maximum power you can drive them. Still should be brighter and more heat tolerant than the bulbs I installed. I'll post an update with pics when I get them.

[chickdr]

I went through this with LED brake light bulbs. I have some now which do not trigger the bulb out warning.

[pungo]

Originally Posted by DaveZ

I placed an order for a pair of those Cree XBD bulbs. Comparing against several other vendors who look like they're selling the same bulb, it seems that they are only being driven 200-300 mA at 12V, so nowhere near the 50W claimed which according to the Cree specs is just the maximum power you can drive them.

Some vendors mix (2) cree XBD with (8) samsung so you need to read their description carefully, you want the ones with (10) cree XBD LEDs. The advertized 50w is their way of saying they'll be the equivalent output of a 50w incandescent bulb. You wouldn't want to try to draw 50w from the AE wires as they may overheat and fail, they were designed for a 10w bulb, but some people have used 20w bulbs.

Look forward to your evaluation of them compared to the other LED bulbs.

[DaveZ]

Yeah, I've seen the Cree + Samsung bulbs, which are pointless because they put the Samsung chips on the sides which is right where we need the most output for the DRLs! I read some of Cree's technical material and a few other industry articles on the XBD chips. The significant increase in output efficiency and heat tolerance is what convinced me to give the "all-Cree" bulbs a try.

[StickMon]

I put these in my panic brake lights.
CREEs all around. Good quality and super bright.
They have a BA9s variant.

[DaveZ]

Yeah, those seem to be identical to the ones I bought from a different vendor. Good to know that you had good results, would be interested to see before / after photos if you have them. Interesting that the panic brake lights take the 120 degree offset bay9s bulbs, I didn't think any BMW bulbs had offset pins.